Improvement in machines for breaking and dressing flax



L. RUNDELL. Flax Brake.

.Ptented Septb 27, 1864.

#9 Q 1 NH e R w vrm UNITED STATES LUTHER RUNDELL, OF PIKE, NEW YORK.

lMPROVEMENT l N MACHINES FOR BREAKING AND DRESSING FLAX.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,458, dated September 27, 186-].

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUTHER RUNDELL, of Pike, in the county of Wyoming and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Breaking and Dressing Flax; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

Figure l is a plan of my improved machine, the top being removed to show the interior arrangement; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section of the same in the plane of line at as, Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a cross-section of the breaking-wheel in the plane of line yy, Fig. 1; Fig. 5, a plan of the breaking and dressing beds and a portion of the springs on which they rest.

Like letters of reference indicate -corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention consists in the use of a breaking and dressing wheel embodying both thick and thin acting edges of the-wings, in combination with two elastic and adjustable flaxbeds, situated side by side, so that the flax may be broken and dressed by the same ma-' chine, and at one operation, and, if desired, without removing the flax from the machine till the whole action is accomplished.

As represented in the drawings, A is a suitable frame for sustaining the parts. In this frame is mounted longitudinally a wheel, B, resting on a shaft, 0. This wheel is provided with a suitable number of wings, D D, four only being shown, which wings are conveniently secured to radial arms a a. At one end, correspondingwith that end of the machine where the fiax is broken, these wings are made thick edged, as shown at 1), Figs. 1 and 4; but at the opposite end, where the flax is dressed after being broken, the wings are made sharp edged, or approximately so, as shown at 1), Figs. 1 and 3.

Corresponding in position with the thick edges 1) of the wings is a breaking-bed, 1, and corresponding in position with the sharp edges Z) is a dressing-bed, 2. These beds are similar in form, position, and action; butthey are disconnected, as shown at 0, so that each can act in conjunction with its end of the wings independently of the other. The beds are made concave on the acting side, as shown at d, Fig. 3, and their position is such that the wheel will act on the flax that is placed thereon They are each secured to springs E E at each end, and intermediately, if desired, in such a manner as not only to produce an elasticity or yieldingness of the bed, but also allow it to be adjusted backward or forward to adapt it to the condition of the flax that is being operated on, as shown inred lines, Fig. 3. To

produce this effect I prefer to make the springs E of wood, as represented, and to provide the lower ends with slots f,througl1 which pass bolts g, by which means the forward and backward adjustment is accomplished. The upper ends of the springs may rest in mortises h h of a guide, G, to keep them in place, or some equivalent arrangement may be em ployed. Thus arranged, the unbroken flax is placed on the bed 1, and the revolutions of the wheel bring the thick edges 1) of the wings in contact with it, thus breaking the stalks and preparing it for the dressing operation. These thick edges 1) are necessary for the breaking action. Thin ones will not answer, as in such case the breaking and tearing action will be so powerful as to injure the fiber. The flax may be constantly fed in at the extreme end of the bed land gradually worked along toward the dressing-bed 2, in passing through which to the opposite or discharge end it becomes thoroughly cleaned from the shives. The operation may thus be continuous and single; and this is easily ac complished, since the flax requires much action, and the passage of the same through the machine may be gradual and slow. Then the flax reaches the dressing-bed 2, the sharp edges 1) of the wings strip off the shives, which the thick edges will not do. It will be seen that by this arrangement of the beds I am enabled to adjust them. just as desired. For instance, the dressing-bed may be set out farther, or at a greater distance from the wheel, than the breaking-bed, or vice versa, and these changes are frequently necessary to adapt the machine to the different qualities or condition of the material that is to be operated on. I thus accomplish in a single machine what is accomplished by two in the old wayviz., break and dress the flax at one and the same operation.

I do not claim, broadly, a wheel whose wings have simply either thick or thin edges,

the thick edges 7) and the thin edges b, in 00111- bination with the breaking and dressing beds 1 2,1nade elastic and adjustable by the springs E, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUTHER RU N DELL.

W'itnesses:

JAY I-IYATT, A. O. HOGOBOOM. 

